Training for Triathlon

Learning about training for improvement in triathlon fitness and performance can be a minefield. There is plenty of information available but knowing what to do when and how to piece it all together can be confusing. Following these three simple ideas will help you improve:

1) What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger! Training stresses the body beyond where it has been before as a result it recovers stronger and able to cope with more. As athletes the stress is training harder or longer than before; recovery is your time away from training. In session where you are looking to develop your fitness you should be looking to finish tired you may also do occasional recovery sessions were the aim is to get blood moving around the body to help with recovery.

2) Recovery is the most important part of training. The essential part of stress, recovery and adaption is the recovery part. Lots of hard or long training sessions without enough recovery will only see you getting progressively more tired and your performance declining. The most important key to recovery is sleep however, good nutrition and hydration are also very important.

3) Not all non-training time is recovery, stress comes in many forms. Training is the most obvious stress however; work, families and relationships can all increase the emotional stress on your body which has the effect of slowing recovery and if not adequately taken into account you could again find yourself under-recovered fatigued and performing below par.

It’s a delicate balance however, listening to your body, thinking about the stress it has had to endure and the recovery you have been able to give it will all help you make the right decision about when to train hard and when to recover well.

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For those of you who haven't seen it here is a short piece I recently wrote for 220 Triathlon magazine with ideas for short (30 minute) swim sessions based around sprint distance races. Are the pressures of work and/or family closing in, causing...